PANAJI
Bringing an end to a prolonged legal battle fought by the father of 2006 murder victim Mandar Surlakar, the High Court of Bombay at Goa has allowed the premature release of three life convicts in the sensational kidnapping-for-ransom and murder case.
The Division Bench of Justice Neela Gokhale and Justice Amit Jamsandekar’s 28-page order has effectively paved the way for the release of Rohan Pai Dhungat, Ryan Pinto and Shankar Tiwari, all serving life sentences in the case. As per the order, they will, however, be under police supervision for a year after their release.
The Court held that the convicts’ continued incarceration, after completing the statutory period required to be considered for remission, would serve little purpose in light of the reformative principles governing remission.
“Considering that the Petitioner has completed 14 years of actual imprisonment, he is eligible to be considered for premature release by the SSRB (State Sentence Review Board)... we see no reason to remand the matter back to the SSRB on this technical ground,” reads the order.
Emphasising that remission is guided by reformation rather than punishment alone, the Bench observed that the justice system cannot ignore whether any useful purpose is served by keeping a convict behind bars after long incarceration.
“An important aspect that cannot be overlooked is whether there is any fruitful purpose in continuing the Petitioner's confinement in prison,” it observed while further stating, “... a reformative approach has been adopted for convicts in cases of remission, rather than a retributive one. In such a case, keeping the petitioner in jail, given that he has already spent over 20 years in prison, may not be fruitful in any manner.”
Holding that the government's rejection of the remission recommendation could not withstand judicial scrutiny, the Bench quashed the order refusing premature release.
The Court consequently directed the prison authorities to release the petitioner. "It would be appropriate to direct the release of the Petitioner. The Respondents (State and Inspector General of Prisons) are ordered and directed accordingly."
While permitting the release, the Bench imposed conditions to monitor the convicts' conduct after nearly two decades in prison.
"Having regard to the fact that the Petitioner is being released after a period of almost 20 years, we direct the Petitioner to report to the SHO of the Police Station within the territorial jurisdiction of his place of residence once in a month for the first six months and once in three months for the subsequent six months,” it said.
While the plea by the victim’s father opposing the premature judgment was dismissed, the Court also rejected his plea seeking a stay on the order.
The case dates back to August 2006, when Mandar Surlakar, a law student, was kidnapped by four fellow law college students as part of a conspiracy to extort Rs 50 lakh from his father. According to the prosecution, the accused procured ropes, syringes, adhesive tape, baseball bats, gloves and fake vehicle number plates before abducting Mandar on August 14, 2006. He was assaulted, tied up and forced to record a ransom message before being murdered. His body was found near Ponda the following day, with the post-mortem attributing his death to strangulation and blows inflicted with baseball bats.
All four accused were arrested on August 16, 2006 and remained in custody till the Children's Court convicted them on June 23, 2014 for criminal conspiracy, kidnapping for ransom, murder, causing disappearance of evidence and offences under the Goa Children's Act. They were sentenced to life imprisonment.
